I have a phobia about bugs.

It's called Entomophobia. It's a serious, weapons-grade fear of creepy crawlies, above and beyond most folks' natural aversion to them.

Wikipedia describes the issue quite well: An entomophobic is likely to experience enough anxiety upon viewing or otherwise coming into contact with an insect that he or she experiences a full-blown series of panic attacks. With extreme cases, the individual may lose consciousness for a short period of time. Uncontrollable weeping or a strong desire to flee from the area are also common signs that indicate an individual is suffering with this particular phobia.

I'm OK with butterflies and ladybugs, and moths to a lesser degree. Beetles are the absolute worst, with spiders running a close second.

It's a strange, and difficult phobia for someone who likes to be out in the garden as much as I do. It's not quite as bad when I'm expecting to come across a bug, or when someone warns me that I'm going to encounter one. I still have to work really hard to not freak out, but I can usually keep myself under control. Otherwise though, I've experienced everything I quoted about, other than actually passing out, though I've had a severe enough anxiety attack more than once that I thought I might faint.

I'm grateful that my family takes this phobia seriously, and helps me out when needed. They will give me a heads up to not go somewhere until they've handled the bug. They don't laugh at me when I encounter one unexpectedly and start to cry, or shake, or run. There have even been occasions when one of my kids has said, calmly, but in THAT tone of voice "Mom, don't move." I just freeze, usually with my eyes squeezed shut, while they deal with whatever it is they've seen (and if I'm told to not move, it's typically because something is ON ME OMG!!!!) ...... and as I'm typing that I'm actually beginning to cry, my heart has begun to race, and my hands are shaking ..... but yeah, anyway they'll just deal with it, then tell me it's handled, at which point I typically will come apart for a little while.

I was once held hostage in a bathroom for well over an hour by a HUGE beetle...I think they're called tree cockroaches or Palmetto bugs or something? Anyway, there I was, naked and dripping, about to step out of the shower, and this HUGE THING skittered across the doorway!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how horrible it was. I was literally trying to climb the wall of the shower to get away from it. It was really, really bad. I won't belabor the hour-long ordeal of trying to get away from it, get out of the bathroom, get IT to go away etc., but finally I escaped the bathroom in nothing but a towel, ran down the hall of the apartment building I lived in and straight to the Manager's office, and refused to re-enter my apartment until that thing was found, the rest of the apartment searched, and all evidence of ANY bugs at all were completely eliminated. It was a harrowing, horrible experience, though I AM able to see the humor in it now, looking back! I must have looked quite the sight!

It's not a fun phobia to have, as much as I enjoy being outdoors and working in the garden. My housemate Lee has done an excellent job of bug-proofing the house. He routinely and frequently sprays all entry and egress points of the house, so that no bug will survive crossing the threshold. He does the exterior too, so that I'm not encountering random bugs on the deck or porch.

I wish I didn't react so strongly. I've gotten slightly better over the years, but I will still break down weeping and shaking and hysterical after an unexpected encounter. Even looking at pictures of bugs (if I'm on facebook for example, and someone posts a picture and I just stumble across it) will cause a reaction. I'll start to shake and get short of breath, feel like I'm about to cry, and sometimes do. It's just weird.

 

Oh, Ronni, how very hard for you, and how very brave of you to try to cope with your bug-a-phobia. Most folks would just stay inside all the time, with a fly swatter in their hand.
I used to be very afraid of spiders. However, after a couple of years in Texas, it was either stay and abide the 8-leggers, or move to Alaska (but they have black flies, don't they?). Since my aversion to snow is even stronger than my aversion to spiders, I have learned to respect them, but I don't pet them!

 

I am sorry you have such an extreme phobia of bugs Ronni. I do NOT like bugs, especially spiders [and snakes which are not bugs, BUT...] I am almost as bad about snakes. I can handle it if YOU are holding one at a respectable distance, but don't go getting it too close or you will regret it. Spiders and snakes will make me scream if they are too close. Otherwise, I dispatch them as needed. I kill all spiders and bugs that I find in my home. If I find a poisonous snake in my yard, I will get the shovel and kill it. If it happens to be a harmless snake, I will give it a wide berth as long as it does not try to climb up my leg or something. I raised 3 sons, and had to learn to at least cope with my phobias somewhat.

Texas also has scorpions that get into your house, and your bedsheets and the plumbing. I had to start using nightlights due to that [and accidently pinning my one son's diaper to him one night. ouch.] I had to turn on the faucets before getting into the shower down there, because they come out of the faucets too. I moved away years ago, and I STILL use nightlights because of the bugs. I also keep lots of flyswatters around the house!

 

You should have entitled this "True Confessions Of An Outside Gardener"

I got buggie about bugs also but that's cause sometimes my skin reacts to the smallest one when he bites me. I really don't mind them being around me just not landing on me.

 

My boyfriend is scared of spiders.
They gross me out, but Im not really scared by them.

 

I, too, think you are very brave for confronting your phobia and not just giving up and staying in a bubble.
They don't bother me much. I really dislike spiders and smash 'em whenever I run across one. Except for a garden spider... I like watching them (from a distance).

 

Because this is the kind of site it is, I always have an expectation that I'm going to run into things buggy, so it's not quite as bad when I do. It's those times when it's completely unexpected that it's the worst.

One time I was just cooking dinner, and I kept feeling an itchy spot on my side, which I absentmindedly kept scratching....until that last scratch when I felt a moving lump under my fingers!! There is no way I can possibly recount the horror that rolled over me in that moment. I shrieked and started crying hysterically. Lucky for me my kids know that particular sound of terror emanating from me, and two of them came running instantly to get the bug. All I could do was point at my side while I was hysterically sobbing...I couldn't even talk. Gallant boys that they are, one gathered me in his arms while the other one lifted up my shirt (and this is their very own mother we're talking about, so you KNOW what courage it took for my sweet son to do that!) and found some kind of beetle thing crawling on me. He took it outside and made me watch while he did (again, they know me and this phobia, so they knew I had to SEE it being taken away so I wasn't afraid to be in the house afterwards.)

It's that kind of thing, that completely unexpected and totally random encounter that is what affects me the worst. You all don't know me, so you can't know that I am typically a very calm, pragmatic sort. I'm not given to hysteria under any circumstances, am very good in a crisis, and just a solid kind of person. To be reduced to such a shuddering miserable wreck over something as ludicrous as a teeny tiny bug is pretty out there, y'know? And it's difficult sometimes, for the folks that DO know me, and know how rock-solid I am, to accept that I really am that badly affected and not just over-reacting. Honestly, even as bad as I react, I am usually holding myself in check, and really I'm UNDER-reacting compared to what my immediate impulse or knee-jerk reaction is.

Night owl, I find it interesting that I am completely unaffected by any other living thing. I find snakes fascinating, at one point I owned a 6 foot red-tailed boa that we named Cooper. He'd hang around my neck when I was doing the dishes, and playfully dip his head in and out of the soap suds. I loved that snake! With all the kids I have, we've probably owned every kind of pet out there, every imaginable rodent, lizards, birds, aquatic creatures....you name it we've probably owned it. Nothing else bothers me but bugs.

Interesting too, is that I cannot kill them (well, that's not surprising, I'm never going to get close enough to one if I can help it!) I do not want them killed. I have no animosity towards them, no vindictiveness. I don't want to hurt them. I just don't want them anywhere near me. When my kids or friends have helped me when I've been freaked out by a bug, they know not to kill it because that's NOT what I want and it will just upset me further. I just want it trapped and released WAY far away from me!

 

I like snakes too. I remember one time I was at the library, and this guy was there from a business called Silly Safaris. They do shows for people. They have all kinds of animals, like a skunk (descented!) and snakes and bugs and critters. He had a huge snake that was as long as 10 people. He chose people from the audience to hold it, including me I also got to hold the skunk. She was a sweetheart, just cuddled up to me and stuck her head under my arm.

As for spiders, one time I had put on a pair of my moms pj pants because mine were in the wash. I was watching tv and felt this tickle/scratchy feeling. I kept scratching and finally lifted the pant leg...and there was a spider O.O I freaked out, yanked off the pants and threw them across the room. Scared my family of course, they didnt know what was happening until I yelled "Spider!" Major gross-out! We think it was a brown recluse, good thing I didnt get bitten!

 

I have been bitten once by a spider. Didn't know it at the time, but when my leg started hurting and swelling... it was no doubt what it was. I put every known spider bite concoction anyone told me to try. A group of friends even gathered and laid their hands upon the wound and prayed.
I think that's the reason I dislike spiders so much... they can be on you and you don't know it. Now a snake... guaranteed you'd feel that!

 

Things like insect don't bother me as long as they are where they belong (outside) and are not eating my vegetables.

After working in the garden I was setting on the porch having an ice tea to cool down. Our porch is 8' from front to back. When I got up I noticed a black snake at my feet. It was stretched the whole way across the porch except for a couple of inches. I was surprised but not excited and tapped this tail to move him/her on its way. What excited me was it went from being stretched out nearly 8' to coiling up and striking at my foot in about one second. I haven't seen it since but we have a lot fewer chipmunks this year. :-D

 

I have been bitten by spiders, thankfully not a brown recluse, but I was very allergic to it anyway. I have also been bitten by a copperhead, and spent a very expensive weekend in the hospital on antivenom and morphine. My leg swelled to 3 times its normal size, and the doctors were whispering about "necrosis" in the ER. [gangrene]

I do not hunt them out to hurt them, but only in self defense if they invade my home or yard. With my allergies and medical issues, I do not care to repeat the agony.

Jbest, I hope your black snake was only a very large king snake that hunts and kills lots of rodents, and also kills poisonous snakes.

 

Ronni, in your original post you mentioned that you have your landlord and a roommate put poison all around windows and doors, etc to keep them away. The poison does not repel insects, it KILLS them. It kills all the bugs you did not happen to find. It doesn't send them back outdoors to play.

Many insects are just pests, like gnats, ants, and such.

Some insects [and arachnids] are deadly or have extremely painful bites and stings, like scorpions, black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders, and their ilk. You can get gangrene and lose body parts from those. I have been stung by a scorpion. It is excruciating pain for several days if it is an American scorpion [the ones in the SW US]; if it happens to be a scorpion from someplace like India, those are quite deadly.

Some insects spread horrible and possibly fatal diseases, examples would be fleas, mosquitoes, ticks, roaches, flies, etc. You can things like West Nile Virus, Malaria, Yellow Fever, tapeworms and other parasites, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever [yes, I have had this one from tick bites and spent a week in the hospital. Missouri has lots of ticks.] Typhus can also be gotten from fleas or ticks. Legionaire's disease came from fleas on rodents. Bubonic plague is spread by fleas on rodents. Remember studying about the Black Death in Europe in the Middle Ages? Rats and fleas caused those pandemics.

And many insects are very beneficial. They pollinate plants so they can bear fruit and vegetables and seeds. That would be things like honey bees and bumble bees, various flies, butterflies, ladybugs and their kind. Even wasps and hornets can be beneficial in their way. [The Asian lady beetle is not the same as the American lady bug. I am not sure what the difference is, but the Asian lady beetles are very invasive. They will invade your home in the fall, and they difinitely eat holes in fabrics, despite what some websites claim. They also have a foul odor that makes it difficult to breathe if you have something like asthma. I get out the RAID if they come in my home. And they have eaten huge holes in my lace curtains.]

Wasps and hornets can also be deadly to people who are extremely allergic to their stings. They have hot tempers, and it is easy to mistakenly bother them and get attacked by the whole hive. I have accidently stumbled upon many nests, and been viciously stung, and been very sick from the stings. I had an epi pen for awhile, but got allergic to the medicine in that from elsewhere. Honey bees and bumble bees do not normally sting unless by accident because if they sting you, they die. Wasps, hornets and yellow jackets can sting repeatedly.

I have no ill will to snakes per se, at least not harmless ones. In the US, the usual poisonous snakes are various species of rattle snakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and a few others I have forgotten. Missouri has them all. The pain from a snake bite is excruciating also. Last year, a man in this area died from a copperhead bite. Some people get gangrene and loose body parts from their bites. The others can also cause those problems. In other continents, they have snakes far more deadly. South America has one called "Step-and-a-Half" because that is about as far as you get after being bitten. It is 100% fatal. There are several kinds of cobras that are very deadly. I cannot recall the names, but even Australia has some very deadly snakes. Maybe some of our friends here are from down under. I have no particular "animosity" toward them, but if I ran into one and had the chance, I would kill it before it killed me. It is called self defense.

Maybe you have never had your life in mortal danger from anything. I hope you do not have to experience that. I am not trying to give you more phobias, or make you more scared of things. I just wanted you to understand. I don't like killing things; however, sometimes it is a necessary fact of life.

[ps, many insects will destroy your garden or crops. Locusts, cucumber beetles, grasshoppers, etc can be very destructive in high enough numbers. Have you ever seen a PLAGUE ? In the summer of 1978, Central Texas, particularly Bell County had a plague of TICKS. There were millions and millions of them all over the ground, they were coming indoors, and my poor dog's ears looked like two beaded purses on her head. Our kind landlord took his dog to the vet's and got cattle dip for the dogs. Dog dip just was not doing it that year. He dipped our dog as well as his dogs in the cattle dip weekly. It was that bad, and it was all over the news that summer. Horse flies have been attacking my poor horse this summer, and I have tried several remedies and no luck yet.]